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Bunny proofing hasn't been enough :(

ImoT

Mama Doe
For those who have read my previous posts you may remember we moved Winston into the living room a few weeks ago. We scrupulously bunny proofed, but sadly it hasn't been good enough. My OH made a barrier for the gap under the TV unit, which has worked amazingly whilst Winston only spent supervised times in the living room or was only left for short periods of time. One thing that happened a week ago was he got onto a small shelf in the TV unit which accessed all the wires at the back and had our Apple TV, now TV and play station on it....but luckily we caught him just in time and we have now filled the shelf with board games so he can't get in it. However this morning he managed to move the barrier and get under the TV unit and chew a load of wires. We now need to get a new house phone, but luckily all other damage had been repairable and he is okay! I am thinking of moving him back to the kitchen.

His naughty adventures only seem to happen when we have a bit of a lie in so he gets his breakfast late. So he could be hungry/frustrated about that? He does have access to hay and lots of toys/enrichment available.

We have tried to make the barrier less moveable and cover up any tiny gaps anywhere. So I might leave it another week and try and feed him at the same time every day, especially at weekends to see if it's just his frustration at getting his breakfast late!

I guess I don't really have a question, I just wanted to express my annoyance (not at Winston, just the whole situation) and see if anyone has any clever ideas or anything?!
 
Aw I'm sorry to hear you've had trouble! You could try putting activities out for him if he does it at a certain time like during the night or while you're out? Beano and Gordon chew the carpet in the night and I find they don't do it moat of the time if I put an activity out for them, like fill a treat ball, stuff a cardboard box with hay and pellets etc. But he could just be exploring, I think it might take a few times to get bunny proofing right. We've tried very hard to rabbit proof the front room for Jake but the first night we came through to find he'd managed to squeeze through a gap and chew through the tv Ariel, xbox cable, two phone chargers and a laptop charger! :oops: All turned off thankfully and replaceable. The second night we found the likes to chew cushions so now have to move them away on a night. Then another night he got past the pen panel blocking off shoes and books and chewed two pairs of my shoes! Now thankfully we've had no incidents so hopefully have it right now!! :lol:
 
Louie chewed through an Internet cable, several laptop chargers, a phone charger and a Wii cable.

We ended up putting a puppy pen around the television cabinet and making sure we never left other cables accessible.
 
It's good to know it's not just me that seems to have had issues. It has been quite disheartening. I am inherently an impatient person and get quite put off when things don't go right (I know this is not good and am trying my hardest to not give up and be more patient).

Here are some photos to try and show how we have bunny proofed.

You can see the big long barrier here, and also the little shelves which are now full with board games and playstation games;
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This is the left hand side where the display unit doesn't meet the wall. You can see there is a gap and that is where Winston was pulling at the barrier and then getting under the unit. I have put weights in front of the barrier so he can't pull it forward. Also now under the display cabinet, covering the gap entirely, is a heavy box of silver cutlery which is too heavy for him to move so he can't get in the gap. At the back are 2 old kitchen shelves covering the plug/wires poking out and also blocking the little gap behind the cabinet he could potentially get down. They are help in place by the wooden stool, bin and another set of heavy weights that you can't really see in the photo, as well as the chair legs a little bit.
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Here you can see the other set of weights for extra blocking;
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Do you think this is good enough?

When my Manor Pet Housing things arrive I will move the litter tray to the left hand side cabinet and the MPH things will be on the right, both against the barrier so I won't have to have the unsightly weights!
 
Aww no sorry to hear about winston and your phone line, but your bunny proofing looks great!

Maybe it's the time of cheekiness.. As I come home Friday night and found Harvey behind the tv!!! I almost died if shock as we have lots of cables!! He has never been behind there before, and we only had a cushion wedged in between the gap and the wall as they have never shown any interest before. But the tinker managed to get it out.

He chewed completly through the lamp cable, completly through our Apple TV and has nibbled lots on our arial cable! :( but that still seems to be working thankfully.

But the lamp was on, so it looks like he did have a shock, I checked him head to toe and phoned the vets but they said he should be fine!

We now have wood and cardboard, he's tried a couple of times since, but legs it when he sees me! Very naughty bunny.. So know how you feel! Xx
 
Aww no sorry to hear about winston and your phone line, but your bunny proofing looks great!

Maybe it's the time of cheekiness.. As I come home Friday night and found Harvey behind the tv!!! I almost died if shock as we have lots of cables!! He has never been behind there before, and we only had a cushion wedged in between the gap and the wall as they have never shown any interest before. But the tinker managed to get it out.

He chewed completly through the lamp cable, completly through our Apple TV and has nibbled lots on our arial cable! :( but that still seems to be working thankfully.

But the lamp was on, so it looks like he did have a shock, I checked him head to toe and phoned the vets but they said he should be fine!

We now have wood and cardboard, he's tried a couple of times since, but legs it when he sees me! Very naughty bunny.. So know how you feel! Xx

Hi Ruth, I remember you saying on your other thread that Harvey and Honey were really good, that's how Winston was too! Obviously this weekend is the time for naughtyness. I'm sorry about your lamp and Apple TV :( Thank goodness Harvey is okay though.

I don't think Winston is very happy I've ramped up the bunny proofing!
 
my rabbits hate phones! especially Tabitha. she once walked right up to me, when I was on the phone to my daughter, and neatly nipped right through the cord! and countless times, they've taken out the wires when I didn't even know they'd crept over to my corner of the room.... :lol:
 
Hi Ruth, I remember you saying on your other thread that Harvey and Honey were really good, that's how Winston was too! Obviously this weekend is the time for naughtyness. I'm sorry about your lamp and Apple TV :( Thank goodness Harvey is okay though.

I don't think Winston is very happy I've ramped up the bunny proofing!

Yeah I know the little monkey! I was really shocked, as it was so random.. But it's made me realise they can certainty demolish if they really want to. Being honest, I think it was because he was bored! Honey has started sleeping on the windowsill, little madam.. And think Harvey misses cuddling up to her as they are like glue and never very far away from each other.

Yeah Harvey is fine, bless him! :) aww poor winston, well hopefully he'll take the hint, but I'm sure he'll be fine and love it free ranging! So does winston settle quite well when you head off to bed? My two are a nightmare and try and follow us! I can give them treats or wait until they are lying down but as soon as they realise we've gone, come looking for us and dig at our door to come into the bedroom and I'm struggling to try and get them out of it, any tips? Xx
 
I've lost count of the number of phone cables my buns have chewed through! 😐 Our solution? We gave up the battle. When people ask for my land line number, I tell them they can have it, but I won't answer their calls coz the buns cut the line 😆
 
I don't mean to downplay it, but it just sounds like teething problems - it takes a while to figure out what will work. A major plus is that he doesn't appear to be chewing your furniture! We had all sorts of issues with ours. We've had to replace carpets, phone chargers, move books onto higher shelves, put all the cables in trunking, replace wooden side tables with plastic ones...we're just about there now. The only thing we've yet to resolve is that they will very occasionally chew the sofa cushions.

I love having them around enough to overlook the damage now though.
 
Yeah I know the little monkey! I was really shocked, as it was so random.. But it's made me realise they can certainty demolish if they really want to. Being honest, I think it was because he was bored! Honey has started sleeping on the windowsill, little madam.. And think Harvey misses cuddling up to her as they are like glue and never very far away from each other.

Yeah Harvey is fine, bless him! :) aww poor winston, well hopefully he'll take the hint, but I'm sure he'll be fine and love it free ranging! So does winston settle quite well when you head off to bed? My two are a nightmare and try and follow us! I can give them treats or wait until they are lying down but as soon as they realise we've gone, come looking for us and dig at our door to come into the bedroom and I'm struggling to try and get them out of it, any tips? Xx

I think boredom is a huge factor. I think Winston did it because his breakfast was late and his hay simply wasn't cutting it when he should have pellets and herbs by 7am! For the rest of today he has been really good.

When we go to bed he is really good. Generally when we try and leave the room any time of the day he will try to follow us. But if we are leaving for bedtime I give him a big handful of forage in his litter tray so he hardly notices when we leave the room then. In the mornings he gets pellets when my OH gets up and veg/herbs when I get up so barely notices when we leave for work. Instead of just a single treat maybe try and give them a handful of something to keep them occupied? Or an activity like a treat ball like someone suggested in an earlier post?
 
I don't mean to downplay it, but it just sounds like teething problems - it takes a while to figure out what will work. A major plus is that he doesn't appear to be chewing your furniture! We had all sorts of issues with ours. We've had to replace carpets, phone chargers, move books onto higher shelves, put all the cables in trunking, replace wooden side tables with plastic ones...we're just about there now. The only thing we've yet to resolve is that they will very occasionally chew the sofa cushions.

I love having them around enough to overlook the damage now though.

Esupi I know you are right. It's just we had very few issues when he was in the kitchen (in fact we only had one chewing incident) and I sort of feel like since he has moved to the living room there has been a few things in a short space of time and it's a little overwhelming. I do feel quite bad complaining as you seem to have had more destruction issues as have others, but I just was quite upset about it this morning. My OH adores Winston but it was me that wanted a pet and me that wanted a rabbit and me that funds him so I just feel responsible for any damage he does.

Sorry i'm rambling, in short…I know you are right!
 
Esupi I know you are right. It's just we had very few issues when he was in the kitchen (in fact we only had one chewing incident) and I sort of feel like since he has moved to the living room there has been a few things in a short space of time and it's a little overwhelming. I do feel quite bad complaining as you seem to have had more destruction issues as have others, but I just was quite upset about it this morning. My OH adores Winston but it was me that wanted a pet and me that wanted a rabbit and me that funds him so I just feel responsible for any damage he does.

Sorry i'm rambling, in short…I know you are right!


It can definitely be frustrating! But you will get there-our at least to a mutually agreeable compromise. Meanwhile just focus on his cute little smooshy face!
 
It can definitely be frustrating! But you will get there-our at least to a mutually agreeable compromise. Meanwhile just focus on his cute little smooshy face!
I had to do this when Doughnut tore lots of lining paper off and chewed my outside lights wire in half, even with the plastic protection on it.

I use sheets of clear Perspex to block things off, all my wires are behind it also with plastic protectors.
 
It can definitely be frustrating! But you will get there-our at least to a mutually agreeable compromise. Meanwhile just focus on his cute little smooshy face!

His face is certainly cute and smooshy and makes up for any naughtiness :D
 
I had to do this when Doughnut tore lots of lining paper off and chewed my outside lights wire in half, even with the plastic protection on it.

I use sheets of clear Perspex to block things off, all my wires are behind it also with plastic protectors.

We have all our wires behinds that wooden barrier, but he somehow managed to pull the barrier forward! The weights in front of the barrier should stop him pulling it forward now though, and when his MPH stuff arrives that will be heavy enough to stop him! :)
 
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